Mr. Speaker, from Health Canada's perspective, certainly if genetically modified food presents a health risk, it will simply not be put on the market. This is very important. And if there are problems, particularly in terms of allergies, there will be special labelling to that effect.
Following recommendations by the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, steps were taken to introduce voluntary labelling. It was determined that there is a lot more to this issue than meets the eye. It is not as simple as some people make it out to be at times.
In terms of the complexity of the issue, following studies done by the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, it was recommended that it would be best to start with a voluntary approach to labelling.
Also, it must be understood that labelling is not as simple as it might seem at first. We have to ensure that the information on the label is what people need to know. We do not want a whole litany of information on the label, just the pertinent facts. That is what we should focus on in working together to improve our system.